A Dracula's Word
by floodmaster16
Summary: A father-and-daughter bonding and reflection fanfic, where Dracula faces the reality of a daughter nearing adulthood.


**-Wait a second! This ain't another HM chapter!**

**-No, it ain't, you are right. This is a one-shot requested by vampygurl402 for user arashi wolf princess' birthday. I bid arashi wolf a happy birthday and hope you like this short story.**

Count Dracula flew high above the frigid air of the Transylvanian night, scanning the lush and creepy forest bellow for scorpions and mice. With his enhanced sight he quickly found one of the former, scurrying between the decaying trunks of old trees. He dove to the ground, talons straight and sharp, ready to catch the defenseless prey. However, a swift lightning swooped right before his eyes and took away the scorpions with it. The powerful vampire could only sigh and give a tired smile.

"That's eight! I win, dad!" his daughter happily exclaimed, the now-dead scorpion clutched tightly in her own talons.

"Yes, of course my sweet dead ums, you won fair and square" he answered, as he watched his daughter eat the small critter. They both knew he had let her win as usual, but winning made her happy (even now, her being 117 years-old), and he loved to make her happy, even if it meant bruising his own ego every now-and-then.

The night had been unremarkable for both of them, bringing nothing new for them, and so, they had decided to spend some family time together, hunting in the grounds around the hotel, an activity that both of them enjoyed to do together.

They feasted on the night's catch, a fair number of prey that quickly settled their stomachs. Their favorite place in the entire haunted forest was a nearby lagoon were the dead and usually gray forest gave way to a rare patch of greenness that framed the clear-water pond and were a few varieties of colorful flowers blossomed. The vampire girl had always loved the spot, and her father never objected to them spending the reminder of the night perched on a tree branch with unobstructed view of the place. However, tonight was different. The Count could tell that something was bothering his daughter. She was very quiet and pensive, almost as if her head was somewhere else. He had chalked it up to nerves at first (she was, after all, going to turn 118 years-old next week), but after a while it seemed like the girl was thinking about something. And she was thinking really hard.

"Mavy?" he softly called, trying not to sound forceful or anything of the like, but it served little to call his daughter's attention, "Mavy!"

"Huh? What?" she quickly reacted, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"What's wrong? You've been distant all this time. I thought you liked it here?"

"I do dad. It's just…uhm … nothing…"

"You know you can't tell me anything right? I'm your father, you can trust me"

"I know dad, it's just… something personal"

Her father understood, or at least pretended he did, and decided not to push the issue any further. The truth was that he wanted to know what was bothering his daughter, to be there for her and help sort it out. But he also knew not to be forceful about it, and thus, he sat in silence in the branch, looking at the clear water and praying to God, or whatever entity in charge that the girl opened to him just a bit. Mavis, on the other hand, tried to find a way to start a conversation that she could eventually steer to the thought she had on her head. After a while, she settled for something that she was also curious about.

"Dad?"

"Yes, little mouse?"

"How was mom like? I mean… was she a nice person? Was she likeable and sociable? Did she have any friends?"

_Ah, so that's what she was thinking about. _

"Of course she was, Mavy Wavy. Your mom was probably the nicest vampire to ever exist. I never knew her to be vengeful or to hold grudges against anyone, deserved or not. She was a lovely monster, unlike any other that has ever existed." His eyes watered at the memory of his late wife, who had been cruelly yanked away from him by rabid and irrational humans, leaving him a widower and denying Mavis of a motherly figure in her life.

"I thought just so. But… did she have any friends, aside from my aunts and uncles?"

The next part was very uncomfortable for the old vampire. Early that week, a teenage monster, just slightly older than his daughter, had checked into the hotel. Both teenagers had accidentally met and had begun to hang around each other. The famous Count, still unable to realize that his daughter was no longer a 50 years-old child, had been quick to scare the young guy away, who suddenly began avoiding Mavis and then left without much in the way of a good-bye. While Dracula wasn't going to admit that what he had done was wrong, he had just realized that his action had caused his daughter a good deal of pain. No matter how much he tried to justify his actions, he knew that he had no good excuse for what he had done. Because of this, he decided to tell the truth to his daughter this time:

"Yes, she made a lot of friends when we traveled around the world. They usually visited us on monster holidays, and those were one of the happiest times we spent together. And then…" Dracula trailed off. They both new the next part of the story. They both sat in silence, unable to think of a way of breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Mavy, I'm sorry about your friend. It's just that, you are still so young and…"

"It's Ok, dad" she quickly interrupted, willing the matter to be settled already, "It's just… I'm tired of the castle, of living on my own. I want to have friends, somebody who's not friendly to me because you threatened to break his neck. I want to see new things and…"

"…see the human world" he finished in a deep sigh.

That's what this was all about. No matter how many horror stories he had told her since she was 20 or so years-old, no matter how many times he had shown her the true colors of the species that took her mother away from their lives, Mavis Dracula wanted to actually see and walk around those very same people. But her father wasn't thrilled by the idea at all. He didn't want to be there to be told that a human had taken away the only thing that gave his life any meaning. Yet, there was an uncomfortable truth that Dracula would have to face at some point: his daughter was soon going to be a grown-up vampire, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"I know that we don't agree on what's best for you, my little dead mouse. I know that maybe you don't like the way I do things, but you are still too young to understand certain things. You haven't seen what happens when you trust someone a bit too much. You haven't seen how dangerous, hateful, and irrational humanity is. I have. I'm not trying to tell you that I know everything about life, but I want you to trust my experience. I'm trying to keep you safe, because you are my daughter, and you are the most important being in my life. The thought of losing you because I wasn't careful enough... it's not something I could live with, Mavy"

"I know dad, but we've been away from humanity. How can you be certain that they haven't changed at all? You don't know what's outside this forest either, you just know what you remember. How can you say that you know how humans are if you haven't seen one of them for a hundred years? It's not fair, dad. It's not fair for me to be left in the dark because you are afraid, and it's not fair that you have control over who I can relate with." The young vampiress was now very distraught, fighting very hard to avoid raising her voice more than necessary. She knew she was right, and her father knew it as well, but there was no point in arguing. She was a minor, and her father still wielded control over her life.

"Remember what I told you a few weeks ago, Mavy?" he continued after a small pause.

"You told me that when I was one-hundred and eighteen I could go out to the human world if I wanted"

"Yes, I did. I promised you then and I promise you know, that I'll keep my word. But until then… please, trust my judgment. I'm just trying to keep yu safe, because I love you, sweetheart. Would you promise that to me?"

It was something that Mavis had never heard her dad say, and that inspired confidence in her. More than his experience, or his knowledge, it was his sincerity that told her that maybe she was being a little unfair with him.

"Ok, dad, I'll trust you until then"

Father and daughter hugged each other tightly. The fact that they had just argued was lost to both of them. What mattered was that they loved each other, and that they trusted each other to keep their word. That was the most important thing to them.

**Hope you liked it and... I might use tie this on with an Alternative Universe fanfic I've been thinking about for Hotel T. As usual, feel free to leave your reviews and thoughts on this one. See ya in the Hollow Memories' next update.**


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